The Dragon and the Lioness
by thankyouforsilence
Summary: "You have your own kind of magic, and it's rare and beautiful and unique …" A new girl arrives at Hogwarts and joins the trio on their journey starting book 5. With her comes a wave of new feelings and they find themselves in unexpected places, while she herself has potential for both good and evil.
1. Chapter 1: The Girl with Golden Eyes

Grey clouds covered the sky. Rain pattered the asphalt. Despite the nasty weather people attended to their daily work. Mike Gordon pushed himself surly through the crowd. King's Cross was as busy as ever: families hurried to the trains, taking care to hold their children together. Big groups of tourists hurried outside to get in the red Sightseeing-Buses and bankers in expensive suites forced their way through the colourful crowd …

It was the typical chaos and Mike was not interested anymore. He already worked sixteen years as a security guard in King's Cross and after all, he now was the vicarious security chief. Mike knew exactly how to handle with the stressed mothers and the arrogant bankers. He knew them all.

However, today it was different. Today it was the 1st September. Every year on exactly this day _they_ arrived. Mike's gaze wandered through the crowd. There were three of them. They obviously had tried to align themselves to the normal people. The women was wearing a blue dress and an elegant coat, her husband – Mike guessed they were married – a grey shirt and beige trousers. Their son had the same drab hair as them and was wearing black jeans, a blue T-Shirt and a baseball cap. He was telling his parents something and they looked at him proudly. At first sight they seemed to be just a normal family. But at second sight you see they had instead of bags and pockets just one big, battered bag made of brown leather on their baggage car. A black owl in a cage sat on top of it. And that was anything but normal.

When you connived at this, especially their behaviour attracted attention: their motions were self-confident, their posture was straight. They seemed to be so _sure_ with themselves. As if they knew their place in the world despite their patently anomalousness. Maybe it was exactly this anomalousness that let them be so self-confident.

Also, Mike had noticed that they all know each other. Like they all share a big secret. A so mighty secret no normal person could preserve it. In the last sixteen years Mike had the wish - no, the drive – to know this secret. His eyes never left the family for a second.

The cracking of his Walkie-Talkie forced him to break his eyes away from them. The voice of his chief ordered him to the station entrance where some teenagers shattered bottles and molested passers-by. _'Why the hell couldn't you charge a normal watchman with that?!'_ Mike thought. But he could answer it himself. _'Because he is afraid that I get his job!'_ Mike wanted to take a last look at the family, but they had completely disappeared ...

When Mike reached the scene, the teenagers had already disappeared. But not without leaving a sea of broken glasses behind them. Angrily Mike wiped the sweat with a handkerchief from his forehead. "Always this young people, deem that they had to protest against everything." Mike grumbled. He ordered the cleaning crew and wanted to go in again when he noticed a halting taxi. This was not something abnormal, but he recognized the taxi driver who was stumbling around the car and opened the door with a clumsy bow for his passenger. It was Rupert Stanley. Mike knew him because they visit the same pub and sometimes shared an evening beer. Rupert was the most unfriendly, uncultivated and money-mad person he had ever met. _'Who the hell is so important that Rupert wanted to seem polite?'_

Long legs in black ankle boots appeared and a dainty hand held fast onto the car door searching for hold. Then she alighted full. A young girl, about 15 years old, but already quite feminine. She was slim but trained. Her skin was still lightly bronzed, even though the sun had not been shining since weeks.

Mike couldn't help himself and kept staring at her. He had never seen someone as beautiful as her. The girl had the face of an angel. But her most astonishing feature were her eyes, framed by dense lashes. They had the colour of pure gold– a colour Mike had never seen before and will never see again. Her hair completed the picture: wild corkscrew curls came down above her shoulders, just subdued with a slender hair circlet. Their dark ebony tone seemed nearly black.

This girl radiated supremacy and power with every pore of her body. Mike knew immediately she belonged to _them_.

Meanwhile Rupert got an elegant, big bag out of the car boot and placed it on one baggage car. The girl with the golden eyes payed him and walked off fast to the station's entrance hall. Rupert followed her with clumsy steps. All people gazed after her, unbelieving and admiring, but also envious. Mike hurried quickly to follow them, but he had to stop because of a big group of tourists. When he passed the entrance, she had already disappeared with her luggage. Only Rupert was standing there, grinning like an idiot, with a lot of tip in his hand. Mike decided to enquire and walked towards him. "Hey Rupert, who was that?" "Hm? Oh, Mike! It's you!" he answered. "Nope, didn't see her ever before. She just said she wanted to KC. I tried to start a conversation but … ." He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. Disappointed, Mike let his gaze wander through the crowd, but she had disappeared.


	2. Chapter 2: On the Hogwarts Express

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."

 _Seneca_

Voices filtered through the secret platform, echoing against the high brick walls in currents of sound. Laughter, shouts and a little crying of first year students who clanged to their parents' legs. Amber herself felt eager anticipation as she emerged through the barrier and saw the red steam train for the first time in her life. How often her mother had told her stories about her first school day – the first ride with the Hogwarts Express, the first sight of the majestic castle. Now it was Ambers turn to experience it, even though she was already 16 years old and had set a foot on British ground only once before.

The tall, ebony haired girl handed her trunk to the conductor and got onto the train. Most students were already seated in compartments, and only a few others peered through the glass windowed doors hoping to find their friends. Amber found an empty compartment at the very end of the train. She let herself fall on a red cushioned seat and leaned back in relief. The second she closed her eyes, the slide door opened again.

The entering girl seemed younger than Amber and had long, unkempt blonde hair and slightly bulging eyes. She was wearing glasses in form of hearts and a chain made of butter beer corks, and clutched a magazine named _The Quibbler_ to her chest. The girl sat down opposite of Amber and eyed her curiously.

"Hello. My name is Luna. Luna Lovegood", she introduced herself.

"Nice to meet you, Luna. I am Amber Sayre."

"Wow!" Luna got excited. "Are you related to _Helena Sayre_?"

Amber smiled. "She is my mom."

"Wow." Luna clenched her magazine with her hands. "That must be really exciting, having a mom like her. My dad met her once, and he said she is one of the most interesting persons he has ever met. She was a Ravenclaw, just like my dad and me. My dad is Xenophilius Lovegood, maybe you know him?"

"Sorry, I don't. I do not know anyone here. I just moved here, this is my first year in Hogwarts … well, I will be in my fifth, but you know." Amber shrugged her shoulders.

"Oh." Luna examined her. "I knew I have never seen you before. A face like yours burns itself in one's memory forever. Anyways…" She took her glasses off. "I think you will get sorted into Gryffindor."

Amber looked confused. "How do you want to know that?"

"Just a feeling. Slytherin is out of question. You will not be a Hufflepuff and your mother might have been in Ravenclaw, but the colours do not suit you. Gryffindor has your colours!" They both laughed.

Amber took an instant like to Luna. She had never experienced true friendship and felt that this could be her chance to start over. At her old school, Amber had been very popular yet a loner, as her classmates only liked her because of her looks and her gift. They probably also feared her a little bit due to the latter. Actually, they did.

Out of the sudden, Luna leaned forward and warned her silently about wrackspurts.

"Wait, what?"

"Wrackspurts." Luna lifted her finger and pointed to her head before she swirls it around. "They get into your head and make your brain fussy. They can make terrible things happen to you."

"I have never heard of them."

Luna shook her head. "I don't know if there is a way to fully repel them, but a charmed pin like this one seems to help." She handed Amber a pin in the form of a raven with its wings spread.

 _What a coincidence it was a raven to protect her_ , Amber thought.

The slide door opened, and a ginger haired girl entered. "Hi Luna, how was your summer?" she greeted and gave Amber a friendly nod. "I am Ginny. Can we sit with you two?"

Luna just nodded and started flicking through _The Quibbler_. Suddenly, she was not that talkative anymore. Apparently, though, this was normal for her because Ginny did not seem to be offended and sat down next to Luna. A boy with a round face slowly appeared in the door case, pushed more or less voluntarily by a black-haired boy with glasses.

"Don't be silly, Neville! Come in, please", Ginny said. Neville muttered something about _I do not want to disturb anyone_ and pressed himself on the seat next to her. The other boy entered and sat down beside me.

It was Harry Potter.

Amber stared at him, and he stared back at her with blatant interest. Ginny cleared her throat and the moment was over. The ginger haired girl's eyes had darkened a bit.

"You are new, aren't you?" Harry asked.

"This is Amber. She is Helena Sayre's daughter", Luna blurted out.

Both Ginny and Neville looked at me with the same amazement as Luna before, only Harry was confused. "Helena Sayre is a famous curse breaker", Ginny explained to him. "According to my brother Bill, she is the best in the world. She is his idol."

"She certainly is," replied Amber proudly. She admired her mother very much, even though she had been a rather alien figure in her life. "My mum wanted me to finish school in Hogwarts, because she has been there as well. It's mostly a sentimental decision."

"And which school did you went to before?" Ginny asked.

"Durmstrang." Ginny and Neville looked at me open-mouthed, Harry with shock in his eyes. Only Luna still concentrated on her reading.

"And do you … They teach dark … eh, arts? Well, I …", stammered Neville and looked helplessly at Harry.

"We didn't see you last year. You know, at the Triwizard Tournament", Harry said quickly.

"No, I wasn't invited, unfortunately. Karkaroff didn't think I would be a proper contestant." Amber replied.

"Well, it was probably good you weren't there."

The whole compartment went quiet. The dark wizard has returned. At least that's what Harry Potter said after the last task in the maze. Amber knew from her mother that the British Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, denied it as a false rumour. Apparently, the press was on his side on this, or he pressured them to be, as Harry and Mr Dumbledore were consequently portrayed as liars in the daily newspaper.

Amber did not think so, though. "I talked with Viktor, and he said he believes you."

Harry nodded. "I am not a liar."

"I know", Amber reassured him. "Karkaroff never returned to Durmstrang after the tournament. This proves everything. I mean, he was a traitor and now he is afraid he must face revenge by Voldemort. He's probably hiding out somewhere …"

Ginny harrumphed. "We should change the subject," she reckoned with a look to Neville who was uncomfortable sliding around his seat. "Which year are you?"

"Well, at Durmstrang it would have been my sixth year. I guess I will start the same in Hogwarts, the lectures won't differ that much regarding charms and levels of knowledge and all that."

"Then you passed your O.W.L.'s last year already?", Ginny asked.

"Excuse me?" Amber looked at her confused.

"It's short for Ordinary Wizarding Level. The examinations are subject-specific and need to be passed in order to be allowed to take at N.E.W.T. level, that's the next examination at the end of the seventh year."

"Oh, well they are not called like that at Durmstrang. But we had something similar last year, yes."

They chatted more about Hogwarts while the countryside changed. Soft, green hills have given way to deep forests and crystal blue lakes. The train crossed an old viaduct when the slide door opened again. A ginger haired boy with freckles, most likely Ginny's brother, and a girl with bushy brown hair sat down. They seemed very eager to talk to Harry, so Amber closed her eyes and let her thoughts drift off.

"So, who's there?" a cold voice asked out of the sudden.

Amber flinched and looked up, just to look into a pair of beautiful blue eyes. They belonged to a handsome guy with grown out, blonde hair. A dark suit enhanced his slender but muscular body.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Harry asked aggressively.

"Not so cheeky, Potter! How does it feel being only second best behind Weasley and a mudblood?"

"How dare you, Malfoy!" Ron and Harry both jumped up, their fists clenched, ready to jump at him.

Hermione held Ron back. "Let it go. He is not worth it" she mumbled and pressed Ron back into the seat next to her.

Amber though shoved herself in front of Harry and looked said Malfoy straight in the eye. "And what gives you the right to act like a spoiled pure-blood brat, walking around with your chin high and insulting people?"

Malfoy looked at her in amazement. Mockery, disgust and something Amber could not name mixed in his eyes. He grinned. "I see you now hide behind a girl, Potter." His intrigued gaze then met Amber's and Malfoy indicated a bow with his head. "I will see you around, little lioness."


End file.
